A bath tub… with a difference

What do you get if you cross an architect, a boat-builder and a cabinetmaker? You get Marco Casavecchia, who builds a variety of exquisite wooden items from his studio in Susa, Italy. Here, he talks to us about a recent project: a stunning wooden bathtub.

How did the project come about?

A customer approached me about building a bathtub and it dawned on me that typical bath styles are not particularly comfortable. I suggested to my customer that we build one in wood.

The bathtub is built with vertical staves around a simple male mould that defines the overall shape. The staves are tapered to accommodate the difference in girth between top and bottom, then joined with a bead and cove joint. The concave–convex joint lends very well to the varying angles between the staves around the mould.

After gluing all the staves I ended up with a multi-faceted surface. Then came the hard labour of fairing the surface inside and out. Finally I fitted and glued the flat bottom.

The first bath I built was in mahogany. Then I built several others in pear wood, sequoia, western red cedar and cherry.

Which WEST SYSTEM® or PRO-SET® epoxy products did you use? How did they help?

I have used WEST SYSTEM epoxies for my boat building work since the early 1980s. So when I decided to build a wooden tub, it was a natural progression to use WEST SYSTEM epoxy – but this time, to keep the water inside instead of out!